Chapter 49 Anonymous Report

Liu Yujie was initially startled by Zhang Jun's words, but she quickly composed herself and said, "There's nothing to be afraid of. What he took was bribery, whereas what we took were dividends from Yuda."

"You're still being stubborn! Dividends? Did you buy shares? Or did you run their business operations?" Zhang Jun said with a dark expression, "Never stretch out your hand, for those who do will surely be caught! Don't you understand this principle? Let's just live an honest life, earn a regular salary, and that'll be enough! A person doesn't need that much wealth in life!"

Liu Yujie said with a completely dismissive attitude, "I think you're just a coward! We've only made a little over two hundred thousand, and you're already scared to this extent. Zhou Kang took hundreds of millions. If he hadn't offended Ma Hongqi, he wouldn't have ended up dead! He didn't die because of greed; he died because he stood on the wrong side."

Zhang Jun fell silent, thinking that there was some truth to his wife's words.

The obsession with greed was the fundamental reason for Zhou Kang's downfall, but the direct cause was still his failure in the political struggle against Ma Hongqi.

Zhang Jun sneered, "Do you think you understand it all? If Zhou Kang had kept his own hands clean and his conduct upright, why would he need to fear anyone? The Discipline Inspection Commission wouldn't have placed him under shuanggui, and the Anti-Corruption Bureau wouldn't have arrested him! Being politically suppressed at worst means getting transferred to another place to continue working. But if you break the law, that's a dead end!"

Now it was Liu Yujie's turn to be left speechless.

Zhang Jun spoke in an unquestionable tone, "I'll name two things, and you must do them! If you can't, we'll get a divorce!"

Liu Yujie was taken aback and said, "Things are fine, why are you bringing up divorce again? Is it because I haven't given birth to a child? I've said I'll go get a checkup, but you refuse to go! It's not necessarily my fault!"

Zhang Jun let out a huff and said, "This has nothing to do with that. I'm not that feudal, and I don't have an imperial throne that needs sons and daughters to inherit. Children, let it be by fate!"

Hearing this, Liu Yujie smiled and said, "Then tell me, what are the things? I'll listen to you."

Zhang Jun said in a deep voice, "First, you must return every single penny."

Liu Yujie pouted.

Ignoring her, Zhang Jun continued, "Second, you are never allowed to take anyone else's money ever again! Those are my only two demands. If you can't do this, we'd better get a divorce sooner rather than later, so I won't be dragged down to my grave by you in the future!"

Liu Yujie turned her back to him and muttered, "Everyone else dares to take money, why can't we?"

Zhang Jun retorted, "Others are others! I am myself! A gentleman loves wealth, but takes it in a righteous way!"

Liu Yujie said, "Fine, then you use your righteous way to make some money for me! All I want is to buy a commercial elevator apartment."

Zhang Jun was left at a loss for words.

He was just a civil servant; where was he supposed to get that kind of money?

They always said scholars were useless for a hundred things, and this saying truly did not deceive him.

After sulking in frustration for a moment, Liu Yujie turned back around and said, "Zhang Jun, how about this? Of the two demands you made, I'll agree to half. I won't ever take money from them again, whether it's from Yuda or anyone else, I won't touch it. But the money that has already entered my pocket cannot be taken out."

Zhang Jun frowned in silence.

Liu Yujie wrapped her arm around his, leaned against his shoulder, and said softly, "The apartment here is too old, and the soundproofing is terrible. When the tenants upstairs use the restroom and flush, we can hear the rushing water clearly right from our bedroom, often waking us up in the middle of the night. With this money, we can find a suitable commercial building, pay the down payment first, and then do some simple renovations. I think that should be enough."

Zhang Jun let out a helpless sigh.

He knew his wife's temperament—once money entered her pocket, how could there possibly be any reason to cough it back up?

Fortunately, the amount wasn't too large, and it was money given by Yuda. Even if something were to go wrong in the future, that kid surely wouldn't turn around and sell out his own elder sister, would he?

"Fine. Since you've promised me, you must keep your word! You are not to accept any gifts from anyone ever again! Living an untainted life is the only way to have peace of mind."

"Alright, alright, alright, I'll do as you say. Then this weekend we'll go look at apartments!"

"You go look! As long as you like it, I'm not picky. I'm afraid the boss might have tasks for me."

"That's fine too. I'll ask Xiaoyan to come with me."

"Your colleague? Are you out of your mind? You're using money to buy an apartment, and you're going to tell your colleague? What if she asks you where the money came from? What if she's jealous of you and reports you?"

"She wouldn't go that far, would she? I'll just say I earned it as side income!"

"Oh, please, you won't be able to explain that clearly. Keep a low profile!"

"Well, once we buy the apartment, we'll have to invite them over for dinner, and they'll find out sooner or later anyway."

"Let's buy it first and worry about that later! One more thing: you need to tell Yuda to be more careful. Legitimate business is fine to do, but he must not pull any rule-breaking stunts. If he just keeps running things honestly like this, after a few years he'll surely make a fortune. Don't be impatient for quick success and fall into someone else's trap."

"I've already warned him long ago. I told him, 'Your brother-in-law is in an extraordinary position and status now, so you have to conduct yourself uprightly and bring honor to your brother-in-law!' He promised me he would."

"That's good!"

The next day after arriving at work, the newly appointed deputy secretary-general of the general office officially took office.

His name was Jiang Feng, and he had previously served as a deputy director of the Department of Science and Technology. In terms of rank, it was a lateral transfer.

However, regarding the actual power and future prospects of the specific position, a deputy secretary-general of the provincial government was naturally higher than a deputy director of the Department of Science and Technology.

The General Office of the Provincial Government was the nerve center of provincial power—promotions were fast, there was contact with many leaders, and opportunities were abundant. The Department of Science and Technology, on the other hand, was a marginalized unit.

Among all the department-level units in the province, the first tier was definitely the Development and Reform Commission and the Department of Finance; the second tier consisted of departments like Education, Civil Affairs, and Human Resources and Social Security; the third tier included departments like Justice and Culture. Only after those came units like the Department of Science and Technology.

Jiang Feng was in his forties and approachable. He shook Zhang Jun's hand and smiled, "Secretary Zhang, I've just arrived and I don't understand anything yet. Let's look out for each other from now on."

This statement was far too polite. Zhang Jun hurriedly said he didn't dare accept such praise, and added, "Secretary-General Jiang, you are my direct superior. If you have any tasks, please feel free to instruct me."

Jiang Feng went inside to meet with Ma Hongqi, and after talking for a few minutes, took his leave.

At ten o'clock in the morning, a batch of correspondence was transferred to the general office.

Ma Hongqi was usually far too busy to handle every single piece of mail personally.

Therefore, once the letters arrived at the secretary's office, Zhang Jun would go through them first, sorting them by urgency and importance, and would only submit the most critical urgent documents for the boss to review.

As Zhang Jun was looking through the letters, he was suddenly startled.

Because one of the letters of denunciation actually had to do with him!

The whistleblowing letter was anonymous, bore no postmark at all, had a blank return address field, and the recipient field read: To Vice Governor Ma Hongqi.

This was clearly something someone had dropped into the provincial government's dedicated complaint mailbox.

The contents of the letter were written with vivid and specific details, claiming that Zhang Jun had accepted bribes and colluded with businessmen to seek illicit gains.

It even mentioned the name of the businessman: Liu Yuda!

Zhang Jun read it with a cold sweat of terror, while at the same time feeling utterly furious!

Which bastard had pulled off this fine piece of work?

Just as he was reading the letter, Ma Hongqi pushed open the door and walked out.

Zhang Jun was startled, but quickly composed himself, stood up, and said, "Boss!"

Ma Hongqi said, "We're heading out! To the Education Department!"

Zhang Jun hurriedly packed up his things while quickly stuffing the denunciation letter into his own pocket.

Ma Hongqi's newly lit three fires upon taking office were far from burned out yet!

The next fire would undoubtedly blaze through the Education Department!